Official Portrait of Trump Shot on Older Camera than Obama

Official Portrait of Trump Shot on Older Camera than Obama. When it comes to Photography, experience and capability of the photographer is certainly more important than the gear being used. It is quite interesting to note that the official portrait of Donald Trump has been shot on an older gear than that of Obama’s. The official portrait of Donald Trump has been shot on Canon 1Ds Mark III, which is older than the Canon 5D Mark II on which official portrait of Obama was shot.

The presidential portrait of Trump was shot at ISO 640. It is also important to note that the photographers were different for Obama and Trump. Pete Souza has been the official photographer of Obama for long and he retired along with Obama.

[Note: This is not a political post. Keep the discussions limited to Photography.]

At full scale significant amount of noise is visible on the portrait of Trump shot at ISO 640. Given that it will be one the most used and historical image the noise is quite unacceptable. The background looks more like a projector screen and the white balance is off the mark. The depth of field is also on the shallow side.

Presidential Portrait of Donald Trump. Source: White House Website

A reddit user and photographer MarblesAreDelicious commented, “Eyes not in focus. Weird lighting from the bottom right of the subject. Looks like a projector background. That expression sucks no matter who wears it. Another user nolodie adds, “I’m really annoyed by the depth of field (way too shallow), and the focal point appears to be on his nose of forehead, and not his eyes. With the shallow DoF, the pin is out of focus, which seems like it should be in focus (it’s a aesthetic and political point of interest). White balance seems off, and the White House looks really bad (crooked, ghosting, and color off). I don’t really like much about this photo.”

Pete Souza shot more than two million images in the last eight years. The list of gear and some of the best photographs can be found here.

Official portrait of President Barack Obama by Pete Souza. Source: White House Website

According to TIME magazine, “The President-elect has yet to name Souza’s replacement. It’s even unclear whether the position of official White House photographer will be kept once Trump takes office. If it is abandoned, that decision will represent a break from 40 years of precedent. Trump’s communication officer did not return TIME’s request for comment.”

It would be interesting to see who will be the new White House official photographer. What do you think about this noisy image? Let us know in comments below. Why Official Portrait of Trump Shot on Older Camera than Obama?

2 comments

Just by reading the expression of Mr Trump, I think this picture was taken rather quickly when he was under stress. He might be trying a little too hard to look like a bad ass leader. Maybe an awkward conversation might do that, too. When he shoots the picture next time, hopefully with a bit better lighting, I think the picture can be much better. I noticed the title of the website, but still you guys are picking little details too much. Keep focus on what matters. What matters is whether he looks like a leader who inspires the world and that is the job of the white house photographer.

Donald Trump’s head seems to be tilted more towards the ground and his eyes are not very well lit but this may be deliberate ploy. The overall mood of the photo is dark when compared to Obama’s which in my mind gives a reasonable representation of the man character. With Donald doing everything different to any of his predecessors I think it would be unwise to compare anything this man does to anything done before!